HomeGambling IndustryUS senators urge FTC and DOJ to probe DraftKings and FanDuel for antitrust violations

US senators urge FTC and DOJ to probe DraftKings and FanDuel for antitrust violations

LAWS AND REGULATIONS09 Dec 2024
2 min. read
US Senate

A pair of US senators have called on the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department to look into whether DraftKings and FanDuel, the two largest betting companies in the United States, are coordinating against their competitors.

Senators want to probe suspected antitrust violations by betting companies

The petition enjoys bipartisan support as Republica Senator MikeLee and Democratic Senator Peter Welch have cited reports that FanDuel and DraftKings could have been "acting together" and "pressuring" businesses to not team up with other sportsbooks.

DraftKings and FanDuel’s duopoly has long been a fact of life in American sports betting. The two companies control the bulk of the regulated market and dominate in nearly every state where they are present.

This new appeal comes at a time when Jason Robins, DraftKings CEO, has said that smaller betting companies still have a role to play in the market, and that they can co-exist with the likes of his company in the first place.

There are good reasons to suspect the companies of sharing too much in the sense of how they elect to do business in the United States. Back in 2016, DraftKings and FanDuel decided to put their differences aside and attempted to merge into an unparalleled betting giant, which was blocked by regulators at the time.

Other companies can compete on a smaller scale

However, argues Lee in a post on social media platform X, this may not have been the end of the two companies’ good business rapports that could have already been "violating our antitrust laws."

Robins, however, is confident that companies that are losing "a lot of money right now will figure out how to survive at smaller levels of scale." The comments were hazarded during the fourth annual Craig-Hallum Online Gaming Conference.

Many companies have already deemed the United States to not be a sustainable market for them. PointsBet, MaximBet, Super Group’s Betay, Kindred’s Unibet, and others.



Image credit: Unsplash.com

09 Dec 2024
2 min. read
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